Warner Music Group Get $9 Million from Apple's Acquisition of Lala

By Bryan Chaffin

Jan 14th, 2010 6:55 PM EST

Time Warner's Warner Music Group received "about" US$9 million out of Apple's acquisition of Lala, approximately 45% of the $20 million investment the music label made in the online service. The firm disclosed the information in Schedule 14A, an SEC filing for fiscal 2009 the company released on Monday.

"In [December] 2009, the Company sold its equity interest in la la and entered into an agreement to terminate a memorandum of terms relating to the formation of an international joint venture for total cash consideration of approximately $9.0 million as part of a sale of la la to Apple Inc," the company said in the filing, which was first noted by PC World.

News that Apple was going to buy Lala broke in early December, and was confirmed later in the month. The online music site is seen as having complementary services to Apple's iTunes. This includes a functioning subscription and ad-supported streaming service, as well as the ability to scan a user's hard drive and match the music contents of that drive to the company's online library of music, giving users access to their music from any browser.

Terms of the sale have not officially been disclosed, but it was widely rumored that Lala was being sold for substantially less than what its investors had put into it. Warner's disclosure appears to support this notion.